Market for modernist furniture now getting uncomfortably hot

July 31, 2005|By William L. Hamilton, New York Times News Service

Everybody expected it. A piece of 20th Century postwar furniture, a trestle table by Carlo Mollino designed in 1948, broke the million-dollar mark at auction at Christie's New York recently, a first. But nobody expected it to keep going, sailing to a selling price of $3.824 million -- nearly 20 times the high estimate -- that left an audience of insiders smirking and shaking their heads.

"I've never before felt like losing was winning," said Lee Mindel of Shelton, Mindel & Associates, a New York architecture firm, who was the underbidder. Cristina Grajales, the New York dealer who won the table, looked alternately shocked and pleased as she swigged hard on a bottle of Poland Spring water and accepted incredulous congratulations from colleagues.

"At modest prices, you spend to learn; at this level, you focus before you spend," said Philippe Garner, head of 20th Century design and photography at Christie's, who brought the hammer down on the Mollino table, which specialists agreed was an excellent example with a strong provenance.

The market for modernist furniture, once young, fun and inexpensive, is superheating. But it's also getting uncomfortably hot. As Richard Wright, a co-owner of Wright, a Chicago auction house that specializes in Modernism, put it, now that big money is involved, "people have the incentive to cheat."

As is advisable with fine 18th Century furniture, an unspoken rule has become advisable with modern design: Let the buyer beware.

Get real

Authenticity, the issue that defines mature antiques markets, is being called into question as objects by the most fashionable names in the business, like Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Chareau and Jean Prouve, become the newest blue chips of decorative arts. As pieces are rebuilt, repainted, reproduced and newly assembled, or as hybrids of new and old come to market, assumptions about what is original or real are being redefined as rapidly as the prices.

Does refurbishment respect or disguise a designer's intentions? Shortly before the Christie's sale, Grajales explained that for each of her clients, authenticity was very personal. For some, only a piece without restoration, even if its condition was poor, would carry rarity and value, as is true for traditional antiques. For others, a reconditioned piece, with obvious work, recalled and revalidated the strength of the design.

That Prouve cabinet, bright red and factory-fresh-looking, in its 50s and still sexy? Read the condition report. It's had more work than Catherine Deneuve. But hey, the loft needs a star for the dining room wall. Would Prouve be proud?

James Zemaitis, the head of 20th Century design at Sotheby's, which recently sold the cabinet for $78,000 (above its estimate of $30,000 to $50,000), said he thought that modern furniture buyers were savvy and aware of distinctions in condition, which differ by designer.

"If you're seduced by the aura of Prouve or Perriand, you have to accept the prevailing market realities of condition," Zemaitis said. "The entire Prouve market is built on things being refinished and rebuilt. I don't think collectors are being duped. They're completely understanding of this."

Zemaitis also sold a Pierre Koenig and Gerald McCabe cabinet in the same sale for $16,800. Koenig, a contemporary of Ray and Charles Eames, was the designer of several Case Study houses in California. McCabe manufactured furniture to Koenig's design. The cabinet was listed by Sotheby's as "ca. 1959." What wasn't detailed is that the cabinet was built in the 1990s by the same team, according to the consignor, Mark Haddawy, to re-create an original that was missing when a Case Study house was restored by a new owner.

Zemaitis, in a telephone conversation, said that the omission of that information was an oversight, based on a misunderstanding with the consignor. He explained that the buyer, a dealer purchasing for his own collection, had been apprised of the catalog error, and was "content with the piece, and keeping the piece," Zemaitis said.

Haddawy, a partner in Resurrection, a vintage clothing business, and a real estate and design consultant in Los Angeles to people interested in purchasing, restoring and furnishing modernist houses, has sent pieces to Zemaitis before.

Haddawy consigned a George Nelson Marshmallow sofa to Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg in 2002, when Zemaitis worked there as a co-head, with Alexander Payne, of the 20th Century department. Phillips, de Pury exhibited the white Naugahyde sofa in Palm Springs, at a modernism show, with Zemaitis in attendance, showing it off. The winning bid, $129,000, blew out the record for a Marshmallow sofa, which was $44,000. Haddawy, a collector who said he couldn't find high-quality restorers for Midcentury Modern furniture, had reupholstered it by hand, using its original white Naugahyde cushion covers, which the previous owner presented to him in a plastic bag because he had replaced the covers with a new color scheme.